You Deserve Better Sleep ✨ Guided Meditation For Insomnia

[00:00:10] Good evening, friends. This is Karissa and welcome to the Sleep Wave Podcast. Tonight, we have a really simple yet profound meditation to drift off to. Before we get to it, though, I wanted to invite you to become a subscriber. Subscribers get two bonus episodes a month and add free listening. There's also tons of new bonus content coming that is exclusive to subscribers and I don't want you to miss out. And if you're already a subscriber, thank you so much for your support.

[00:00:40] Because of you, we can keep producing great content to help you sleep.

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[00:01:48] So a few weeks ago, I went on an incredible trip with my sister. We visited a spa in Scottsdale, Arizona. Shout out to the sanctuary. And spent three days sleeping in, hiking, sitting by the pool, getting spa treatments, and eating delicious food. We had wanted to go on a trip to celebrate the end of my cancer treatment last year. But I really wasn't up to going, even a couple months after treatment ended.

[00:02:16] So we postponed the trip for a year and wow, what a difference a year makes. I was so grateful for my healthy body on those hikes. For my hair that completely covered my head after growing back in from chemo as I swam in the pool. For having the appetite to enjoy the insanely good food.

[00:02:37] But still, despite all of this gratitude, I had to work with feelings of worthiness for such an indulgent trip. Did I really deserve to be pampered so much? To rest this much? To take this time away from my family and my work and all the demands of life to just... Be? Of course, the answer is yes. We all deserve rest and rejuvenation.

[00:03:07] Peace and time to be still. We even deserve to be pampered from time to time. But it's easy sometimes to get in the mindset of having to...earn rest. To ask yourself if you were productive enough as you settled down to rest. Billy and I often say at the end of the day, if one of us is complaining about not getting enough done or how much more there is on our to-do lists, it's never done.

[00:03:35] There's something about that simple truth that helps me just throw my hands up and let it all go for another day. Tonight, we are going to let go of the demands of our to-do lists and sit in the sacred truth that we all deserve to stop. To rest. To be.

[00:03:54] In meditation, we practice a non-judgmental attitude to simply be with what is arising in the now, rather than labeling what we observe as good or bad.

[00:04:16] It gives the mind a chance to settle into a witnessing perspective long enough to move beyond the stream of old patterns, ideas, and stories that form our personality. It's not about forgetting who you are. It's about loosening the grip of who you think you have to be.

[00:04:39] Non-judgmental awareness means observing thoughts, feelings, sensations, without immediately reacting. You watch a memory arise without becoming it. It's in the past, isn't it? What is here and now is much closer to who you are at your core. The present moment happens before thought, before you can attach all those ideas to yourself,

[00:05:08] before you can fill the empty pages of your book with sentences and paragraphs. Most of us rewrite this story over and over again in our heads, but forget that we are more than the story we tell. We are also the author, editor, and audience of our own story, not to mention the critic.

[00:05:35] But like most works of art, the lens through which we see is colored and distorted by the culture. It either reinforces the most prevalent ideas in that culture, or it runs to counter them. Either way, it simply reverberates in the echo chamber of what other people have said before. Arthur Schopenhauer said, Talent hits the target no one else can hit.

[00:06:05] Genius hits the target no one else can see. Talent may be impressive, but it lacks the true authenticity that comes from a visionary who can see beyond the framework laid out by others. In a similar way, we live our lives in the context of what others have said is true, or right, or beautiful.

[00:06:32] There is so much value that has been bequeathed to us by parents, grandparents, teachers, preachers, peers, gurus, philosophers, etc. But there is also immense value in realizing that many of these voices are sounding in our minds,

[00:06:56] shaping the stories we tell about who we are, or who we should be, or who we can be. Non-judgment, for the purpose of meditation, has the power to release us from the imperative that we must adopt those voices as our own, to feel through whether or not they align with our most authentic self.

[00:07:23] One of the strongest themes in our culture that often goes unnoticed is the implicit virtue in staying busy and productive.

[00:07:37] There is a felt sense among us that only when we have accomplished enough work or produced enough value do we deserve to relax and feel at peace in our bodies and mind.

[00:08:32] The second part of our lives in being able to do this is to work in our own, to be able to do this for us as if we come to the extent of the free and our own way. Take a deep breath in through your nose. Notice a brief moment as the inhale becomes an exhale.

[00:09:02] And then feel the release of your exhale. There's another brief stillness at the bottom of the breath. And then the next inhale begins. Take a few more breaths like this, with intense awareness.

[00:09:35] It's not about breathing deeply or slowly, but rather breathing mindfully, with a sense of presence. No one has to tell you how to breathe. It's as natural as living.

[00:10:01] As you take this time to feel your breath moving however it needs to move, recognize that the rhythms of your own body are not something you must earn for your birthright as a human being.

[00:10:27] Rest, sleep, and relaxation are just as much your birthright. There is no price to be paid for the gentle ease you are feeling now.

[00:10:47] Your very existence makes you worthy of sleep, peace, and well-being. Trust your breath to guide you through this inward journey. Let it follow its own path.

[00:11:11] And follow it deeper and deeper into the body and mind's innate ability to become quiet and passive. Breathe in. Breathe out.

[00:11:42] Breathe in.

[00:13:20] Give yourself space to let go of striving. Striving has its place, but here, now, the goal is already met.

[00:13:39] Just as you are, there is no action you could take or fail to take that would change the essence of who you are. Your worth is its inherent.

[00:14:06] If this weren't true, every mistake would mean ruin. But that's not how life works. The brain learns. The heart mends. Redemption is not a fantasy. It's written into your very biology.

[00:14:35] When you meet yourself with gentleness, your nervous system begins to remember. You are not your actions. You are not your effort. Not even your consequences. Your worth transcends what you do.

[00:15:04] The same is true for everyone else. No one is beyond healing. Let that truth settle into your body now. In your breath, let it rock you toward sleep.

[00:15:31] Your worth transcends what you do. Breathe.

[00:18:09] Feel them resting against the surface beneath you. Notice any sensation. Warmth. Coolness. Tingling or just stillness. Let them be heavy. They have walked enough today.

[00:18:44] Tension up to your ankles. Your calves. There is no need to hold attention here. Simply notice what it is. And let it be.

[00:19:14] You're not fixing anything. You're witnessing. Allow this awareness to travel up into your thighs. These are strong places. Places of movement. And support.

[00:19:43] Let them now be places of release. Let gravity have them. Let them be held. Fill into your belly. So often we hold tension here.

[00:20:13] Trying to control. Trying to perform. Give your belly permission to soften. Let each breath gently rise. And fall without effort. Trust the body. It knows how to rest.

[00:20:51] Notice the quiet rhythm of your breath. Moving through your lungs. Your ribs subtly expanding. And relaxing. And relaxing. There is nothing to force. Just this sacred rhythm of the breath. Always there.

[00:21:19] Always offering peace. To your shoulder. So much weight is carried here. Responsibility. Expectation. Expectation. Expectation. Identity. Let it go now.

[00:21:48] Let your shoulders sink a little deeper. You don't have to carry anything. Notice your arms. Your hands. Let them rest beside you. Or on your body.

[00:22:24] Let them simply be. Hands are too full. To receive the gifts that life gives to us. These gifts are given freely. With no expectation. The gifts of peace. Of rest.

[00:22:59] Feel your hands open to receiving what is given. Not earn.

[00:23:41] Fairness to your neck. Your jaw. Feel the muscles around your eyes ease.

[00:24:03] Let your forehead expression dissolve.

[00:24:50] When you were a child. No one asked you. If you had accomplished enough to deserve a nap. When your body was tired. You laid down and closed your eyes. That same instinct remains.

[00:25:16] Your body remembers that rest is the cure for tiredness. You don't rest because you finished your work. Children know there will always be another tree to climb. A race to run. Another tower to build.

[00:25:44] Or crayon to choose. That there's nothing to prove. Rest is part of the rhythm of life. Their bodies are teaching them this lesson. But somewhere along the way.

[00:26:10] We forget that sleep isn't a reward. A chance to return again. And again.

[00:27:56] Feel now. Have you managed to release even a little of the guilt that weighs on you. About how much you've done. Or haven't done. If so. You've begun to unravel some deep conditioning. And returned to the source of all your great achievements. Your peace.

[00:28:29] True self. As you release more of these unconscious tensions. It's normal for some familiar voices to return. The ones that say. Be perfect. Don't be too much. Don't relax.

[00:29:00] These voices often become so entangled with our own inner monologue. That it's hard to discern whether or not they align with the core of who we are. When a thought comes that seems to block rest. Telling you that you haven't done enough to deserve rest.

[00:29:32] It's an opportunity to pause and reflect. Whose voice is this? Where did I first hear this message? Is it truly mine? Or something I took on long ago?

[00:30:00] There's no need to argue with a thought. Just see it clearly. From this non-judgmental place of pure awareness to drifting by.

[00:31:23] Let yourself sink even more deeply now. There's nowhere else to be. Nothing left to do. No version of you that needs to rise to the occasion. What a gift. Simply to stop. Practice the art of letting go.

[00:31:52] So that you may receive the gift. With open. Set down the tasks. The expectations. The roles. Even for a little while. If thoughts return. Urging you to stay alert.

[00:32:20] Or stay useful. Just notice them. Let them fly past you. Like birds crossing a wide, quiet sky. You don't have to.

[00:32:44] You're not being asked to fix or solve anything right now. This is your time to reclaim your birthright.

[00:34:05] Rest is not a reward. It's a return. A return to your natural rhythm. A return to the stillness that's always been there. Just beneath the surface of thought. You don't have to search for peace.

[00:34:36] Peace is already within you. In your breath. In your body.

[00:35:28] Does not measure your worth. It does not keep score. It simply holds you. As you are. This is your inner home. You can return to it at any time. It is not far away.

[00:35:56] It's as close as your next breath. Here. In this quiet space. It's safe. To let go. Let go.